"Yeah, it was a great week," Ngata said today. "I practiced all week and felt good."

The three-time Pro Bowl selection has 32 tackles and three sacks after beginning the season in dominating form then tailing off with two tackles against the

Houston Texans

and no tackles for the second time in his career the following week against the

Cleveland Browns

.

Ngata got injured against the Dallas Cowboys.

The hope for Ngata is that the time off will provide a boost for the defense for this pivotal game.

"That helped a lot," he said. "I didn't have to re-tweak it or anything. I felt good."

Ngata credited Ravens coach John Harbaugh for making a good decision to give him the week off against the Raiders, especially since the game was well in hand.

"It was just a choice, me and coach decided to do," Ngata said. "If we had started losing, I probably would have played. But they never caught up or put us in a situation where I needed to be out there."